Ellis Island

Full gallery at the New York Public Library.

E-verify program: an economic harakiri

Quotes from Samuel McKewon’s article in the Nebraska State Paper (12.12.08).

• Quality

“When Ekeler, CEO of Overland Products in Fremont, posted notifications that he would use a federal E-Verify program to determine whether prospective employees had viable Social Security numbers, job applications quickly dropped. […] Ekeler said. “…I didn’t want undocumented workers to make my life miserable.”

Ekeler, who was appointed chairman of a Fremont task force on immigration, gave testimony in favor of Nebraska implementing an E-Verify program during a three-hour hearing on illegal immigration Friday in front of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.”

Just as interesting would be Mr Ekeler’s opinion on the quality of his firm’s products after the notified he’d be using E-Verify. It doesn’t take a Nobel laureate to figure out that as his recruitment pool dried up the average quality of the prospective employees ought to have lowered considerably which in turns must affect his output one way or the other.

Early Human Migration – Moral Lesson

Village fills with deportees as US cracks down

XICALCAL, Guatemala (AP) — For years, the only people in this valley were those too old or too young to make the trip to the United States. Now the village bustles again with deported workers.

The reason is a raid that happened nearly two years ago and 3,000 miles away. On a bitterly cold March morning in New Bedford, Mass., dozens of immigration agents swarmed the Michael Bianco Inc. textile factory on the water’s edge and arrested 361 people, mostly Central American women.

The sweep was among the first of more than a dozen showcase raids as the U.S. cracks down on illegal immigration. Arrests of undocumented workers have risen tenfold since 2003, to 4,077 last year. Fines for employers have jumped from a few dozen companies paying $45,000 in 2003 to 863 facing penalties totaling $30 million.

The Michael Bianco raid signaled the government’s new, no-tolerance attitude toward its undocumented population. So far only 160 former Michael Bianco employees have been sent home. But the raid’s impact has had a ripple effect across the U.S., scaring employers into policing their work forces.

Thousands of workers found themselves jobless and gave up on the American Dream, returning to hometowns now struggling to feed the returning populations. One of these is Xicalcal, a collection of homes down a forgotten dirt road in Guatemala’s Mayan highlands.

The area was among the hardest-hit during Guatemala’s civil war in the 1980s, and many people fled as soldiers and militias killed anyone suspected of being a leftist guerrilla. A few ended up in the industrial port of New Bedford, where the fishing and textile factories rarely asked for work papers.

Illegal immigration isn’t immoral

The Arkansas Traveler, 12/8/08

Whenever anyone talks about assisting illegal immigrants, they’re met with angry opposition. Opponents of being nice to illegal immigrants seem to think that they are being helpful when they point out the fact that people are “here illegally” and “breaking the law.”

Guess what? We already knew that.

Just because you break a law doesn’t mean that you’re automatically a horrible person who deserves no charity or consideration. I wonder – how many of the people who cry out that any leniency or assistance given to illegal immigrants is amnesty turn around and advocate the greatest possible mercy when they become illegal parkers?

People complain that illegal immigrants “cut in line” in front of those who go through the process legally. This is bunk. For immigrants from Latin America, there is no “line.” The citizenship process is more like a giant bureaucratic blender operated by the pencil pushers at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (now in its third incarnation in just five years).

First, you try to apply for a green card. Six different desk clerks tell you to bring your papers to six different offices in six different cities – all tell you you’re at the wrong place. You then wait somewhere between five and eleven years, depending on how many people lost your paperwork and who wants copies of mysterious, probably nonexistent forms with names like “XJ2781.” The people at the USCIS phone number give you different instructions every time you call. Assuming you can afford an immigration attorney, you learn that no one really has any idea how the process is even supposed to work.

If you are lucky enough to get a green card, the road to citizenship will still take several more years and countless trips to alphabet soup agencies that no one has ever heard of. One day, you receive a notice in the mail informing you that you are now in the country illegally. This comes a week after receiving a notice informing you that you are not allowed to visit your home country.

Revealing immigrant roots

Chelsea councilor recounts how his Argentine parents, who had lived here illegally, became Americans

CHELSEA – City Councilor Roy Avellaneda traces his political stance on illegal immigration to a pair of newlyweds from Argentina who spent their honeymoon huddled under a rug, on a cold, hard floor in Dorchester.

His parents – Vicente and Isabel Avellaneda – arrived in America in 1970 with suitcases, winter coats, and $500. She stitched trousers in a factory; he baked bread on Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury. And for two years they lived in uneasy secrecy as illegal immigrants, like so many of their neighbors today.

Avellaneda’s long-kept secret spilled out at a recent state hearing on immigration, following years of reluctance because of the vitriolic national debate on the issue. He said his family is an example of the success that might await the nation’s 12 million undocumented immigrants if they are granted permission to stay. His parents are now US citizens and own a landmark bakery on Broadway.

“People wonder where my position comes from,” Avellaneda said, in an interview. “There’s my answer: It’s my roots.”

The news stunned a crowd that had known Avellaneda as a champion of immigrants’ rights – he and other councilors voted last year to declare Chelsea a sanctuary city, a haven for all immigrants. But many immigrants from Central America also were skeptical o f the tall, bespectacled councilor. They view him as a member of the white elite, a college-educated politician who speaks Spanish with an Argentine accent.

“It took me by surprise,” said Gladys Vega, executive director of the nonprofit Chelsea Collaborative, who knew Avellaneda’s sto ry but didn’t expect him to share it. “I asked a woman, ‘Did you understand what he just said?’ She said, ‘I can’t believe it. I thought he was a white guy. I didn’t think he was one of us.’ “

Nationally, politicians and others have recently held up their own stories to show the contributions of illegal immigrants, from 76-year-old US Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, whose Italian mother was once here illegally, to 21- year-old Henry Cejudo, an Olympic wrestler and gold medalist and the son of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Illegal immigrants arrested in nail bar raid

The Sentinel, November 03, 2008

OFFICIALS have arrested three illegal immigrants working in nail bars.

Officers from the UK Border Agency acted on intelligence and raided two shops in Hanley.

They visited Angel Star Nails in Piccadilly and arrested a 23-year-old Vietnamese man who was identified as an illegal entrant. He is being detained, ready to be removed from the country.

Officers also visited Nail Creation in Town Road where they found two more illegal Vietnamese nationals. A 20-year-old woman who had no valid visa was arrested and detained. She has since been removed from the country.

A man was also arrested and has been released on immigration bail pending his removal.

The owner of Nail Creation was issued with an on-the-spot penalty notice and risks a fine of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker.

Nineteen-year-old Phuong Pham, manageress at the shop, said: “It was very upsetting. The woman they have arrested was a relative of mine. She was visiting me after coming over to my wedding at the end of September. She thought she could stay in the country for three months without a visa. She was just sitting in the shop when they came in, she wasn’t even working.

“I came to England in 2003 to do GCSEs and A-levels and then we opened the business in April this year. Since then we have had four raids by immigration officials.

“There are only four people working here, an English girl on reception, myself and two other Vietnamese girls, and we all have the correct papers.

“Vietnamese people are better at nail care because they are fast and work in a different way to English people.

Officials on border questioning need for fence

Houston Chronicle, Oct. 26, 2008

Citing decline in arrests of illegal immigrants, they see more agents as the solution

For business and elected leaders in Texas border towns, it’s a simple question: Since arrests of illegal immigrants are declining steadily along the Texas-Mexico border, why should the controversial and costly fence be completed?

An analysis by the Texas Border Coalition, an association of elected officials and business leaders, shows a 56 percent drop in arrests during the last four years by the U.S. Border Patrol on the Texas-Mexico border.

Government officials have maintained for years that fewer arrests mean fewer immigrants are trying to cross the border illegally.

The declining immigration arrests have revived the debate over the effectiveness of the planned fence because only a half-mile of the 110 miles of pedestrian fencing planned for the Texas border is finished. As government budget deficits soar, some question how fiscally prudent it is to build and maintain a project the Congressional Research Service estimates to cost $49 billion.

Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, who heads the border coalition, said a steady increase of Border Patrol staffing is responsible for the declining arrests.

“We have a new Border Patrol station opened in Eagle Pass in the last six months, and the Border Patrol has continued to recruit agents,” Foster said. “I think because of their strong presence (on the border), that links back to reduced apprehensions.”

However, some experts maintain that a slowing economy is more responsible for the lower number of arrests. With fewer jobs available, fewer immigrants try to migrate north. That raises an obvious question: When the U.S. economy recovers, won’t more immigrants try to cross into America illegally, thus making a case for a border fence?

Foster, however, said by the time the economy bounces back Congress will have passed long-anticipated immigration reform that includes a guest worker program. Immigrant workers will cross the border lawfully through ports of entry.

His border group notes that in San Diego, where heavy fencing and walls have been in place for years, apprehensions are up 28 percent during the last four years.

“Here we are in middle of a financial crisis, and we’re going to spend billions on something that doesn’t make sense?” said Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas. “Walls don’t work — people go under, over and around them.”

Crackdown on illegal immigration boosts food prices

The Seattle Times

A recent article [“State agrees to check for farmworkers’ papers,” Times, Local News, Oct. 9) highlights an aspect of our economic predicament that many have overlooked, namely the high cost of food.

Anyone who has shopped in a Seattle supermarket recently knows the cost of many items has been soaring. Only a few months ago, foodstuffs such as milk and produce cost 5 or 10 percent less than they do now. The average household’s food budget has increased so sharply that many families are “shopping down” — buying less meat, fresh vegetables and fruit, and convenience food than they did last year.

The reasons for the increased cost of food are complex, including worldwide weather patterns and the high cost of fuel.

But many crops are labor intensive and depend on the ability of growers to secure a sufficient supply of workers at critical stages, for example to harvest a field of lettuce or spinach, or an orchard of apples.

Many farmers are plowing their crops into the ground, realizing that without immigrant workers to pick them, harvesting is simply uneconomical. Still others are shifting to crops that are less labor intensive, even if this means cutting down mature orchards and starting over. The lower supply of food inevitably results in higher prices as consumer dollars chase a dwindling or shifting market.

Of course, the world food market is sufficiently integrated that reduced production in one area — say, Yakima — will cause another region (say, Chile) to pick up the slack. But obtaining produce from a distance when it was formerly available close at hand increases the cost of transportation while placing stress on the environment.

Immigration controls that inhibit the free movement of workers to jobs that need them operate as a drag on the free market, increasing costs all along the line. A nation that closes its borders to essential labor will eventually pay the price.

Studies of immigrants, especially those from Mexico and other parts of Latin America, confirm that they are hardworking and even less likely to break the law or throw themselves on the mercy of welfare authorities than citizens whose ancestors settled the original colonies. They help us enjoy relatively affordable food because they are willing to work long hours under the hot sun, making sure that the nation’s food reaches your market. Throughout its history, immigrants have built America, fueling its economy and adding richness to its culture.

When we hear voices railing at immigration and immigrants, it is helpful to keep these facts — and our pocketbooks — in mind.

Richard Delgado is a professor of law at Seattle University.

Hitting a Wall on Immigration

By Thomas Wenski

Washington Post, October 20, 2008

As the presidential election heads into its final days, the issue of immigration remains largely unaddressed. It was not examined during the debates and is not high on either candidate’s list of talking points. Congress has left the issue on the table. Sadly, this congressional reluctance has created a policy vacuum that has widened America’s political divisions and left us with an inconsistent, ineffective and, in many cases, inhumane national policy.

The failure of comprehensive immigration reform last year, when Congress bowed to a vocal minority, unleashed a torrent of initiatives designed to demonstrate that the U.S. government can enforce our laws and secure our borders. In truth, intermittent work site raids, increased local law enforcement involvement and the creation of a wall along parts of our southern border, among other efforts, have done little to address the challenges presented by illegal immigration.

The most visible of these initiatives has been the work site raids in cities and towns across the nation. While these enforcement actions meet the political need to show government’s law enforcement capabilities, they have had minimal effect on the number of undocumented workers in the United States.

Instead, they have caused dislocation and disruption in immigrant communities and victimized permanent U.S. residents and citizens, including children. The sweeping nature of these raids — sometimes involving hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons — has made it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due-process legal rights, including access to counsel. Some families have been split up indefinitely.

The involvement of local law enforcement in immigration enforcement, most prominently in Arizona and parts of the South, has greatly harmed the trust between immigrant neighborhoods and law enforcement and has diverted police from the work of apprehending criminals. The border wall and an unprecedented immigration enforcement buildup along our southern border have failed to deter new entrants to the United States and have discouraged immigrants from leaving.

Perhaps most damaging are the adverse, long-term effects these policies have had on immigrant communities. The overriding emotion many immigrants feel is fear. Not only do legal immigrants worry that a loved one may be swept away in a work site raid or after a knock at the door at home, they are fearful for their own futures — and the futures of their children — in the United States. This is not the way to encourage integration and responsible citizenship.

While some organizations that oppose immigration are delighted by this and hope such an atmosphere will lead to a mass exodus of illegal and legal immigrants, they are likely to be disappointed. What they do not acknowledge is that 70 percent of the undocumented have lived in this country for five years or longer and have no home to return to. These people identify themselves more as Americans than anything else and would rather live here in the shadows than take their U.S.-citizen children back to a place they do not know.

Opponents like to argue that our economy does not need the work of immigrants, now or in the future. Again, they are wrong. The Labor Department predicts that in the years ahead, despite the current economic slowdown, a shortage of low-skilled labor will exist in several important industries, for some beginning as early as 2010. As baby boomers begin retiring, immigrants will help support them by paying billions into the Social Security system.

To many elected officials, immigration has become the new “third rail” of American politics. Refraining from addressing this pressing domestic issue, however, will elevate tensions in states and localities, further alienate immigrants and their communities, and tacitly affirm the acceptance of a hidden and permanent underclass in our country.

The silver lining of this dark cloud upon our immigrant history is that it demonstrates that an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration is ineffective and contrary to our national interests. A new administration and new Congress will be forced to act — this time in a broad and balanced manner. Otherwise, the American people will be left pondering a wall and wondering why it is not working.